Technology improves detection of invasive cancers.
WASHINGTON TWP. -- Conventional two-dimensional digital mammography usually takes two images of each breast -- top to bottom and side to side -- resulting in high-resolution images. With 3D mammography, the X-ray tube moves in a circular arc around the breast, taking multiple low-dose X-rays that a computer assembles as a high-resolution 3D image.
The radiologist reading the mammogram is able to scroll through the 3D image in "slices" as thin as a dime, examining the entire breast with exceptional clarity and without the problems associated with tissue overlap.
The difference between the two techniques can be compared to looking at a two-dimensional picture of a ball versus looking into and around the inside of a ball. These clearer images give radiologists a more accurate screening tool for breast cancer detection and can mean a reduced need for repeat mammography.
Kennedy Health Outpatient Medical Imaging Center in Washington Township now offers 3D mammorgraphy. Also called breast tomosynthesis, 3D mammorgraphy has been shown to improve detection of invasive cancers over conventional 2D mammography.
Kennedy Health's Imaging Center now offers this technology with GE Healthcare's state-of-the-art SenoClaire system. With GE's SenoClaire, there is little to no increase in dose from a 2D standard mammogram to a 3D view. This technology is especially beneficial for women who have dense breast issue, as well as for those with:
- Prior mammograms that had inconclusive results
- A history of call backs for repeat breast scans
- Past biopsies for suspicious masses or lesions
- Breast cancer or who have survived breast cancer
- A family history of cancer.
The Kennedy Medical Imaging Center is located at 900 Medical Center Drive in Washington Township, just off Egg Harbor Road near Kennedy University Hospital.